WHO Reveals Number Of Children forced Into Child Labour

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, says no fewer than 72 million children in Africa are forced into child labour.

The UN’s health agency said in its official twitter account @WHOAFRO that the COVID-19 crisis had further put many more children at risk of child labour. “Child labour is detrimental to the health and development of children.

Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful.

Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation worldwide, although these laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties, supervised training, and some forms of child work practiced by Amish children, as well as by indigenous children in the Americas

“We must protect children from child labour, now more than ever,’’ it said. Meanwhile, the UN in a statement, said huge gains made toward ending child labour over the last 20 years, risk being reversed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN made the observation in a statement issued to commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour, marked annually on June 12. It, however, appealed to governments to continue to invest in measures that have helped reduce the number of youngsters working, by 94 million since 2000.

Existing global estimates indicate that 152 million children are being put to work. But the figure is due to be updated next year, once the wider impact of coronavirus lockdown precautions become clearer.

Child labour has existed to varying extents throughout history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer families worked in Western nations and their colonies alike.

These children mainly worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories, mining, and services such as news boys—some worked night shifts lasting 12 hours. With the rise of household income, availability of schools and passage of child labour laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell.